Top 4 reasons to make AVCs

Service your pension!

You don’t think twice about taking your car for its annual car check, but few of us give our pension savings the same treatment. Reviewing your pension savings regularly should help you to see if you need to do more to boost your retirement income. This is where Additional Voluntary Contributions come in.

What are Additional Voluntary Contributions?

Additional Voluntary Contributions or AVCs are extra savings that you can make towards your pension.

Top 4 Reasons to make AVCs

Enhance your retirement benefits

  • Increase your expected tax-free lump sum at retirement. This is potentially 25% of your retirement fund, if you are a member of DC company pension scheme or 1.5 times your salary. Please refer to your AVC Member Guide for full details on your tax-free lump sum entitlement.
  • Boost your retirement income
  • You may wish to protect your dependants in the event of your death after retirement. Adding dependants’ pensions has a cost attached – your AVC pot can help with this cost.

Tax savings

  • Any growth on your AVC investment fund is tax free.
  • You also qualify for tax relief on your pension contributions. If you are on the marginal tax rate of 40%, this could work out as a potential saving of €40 for every €100 you contribute.*

Choice

You choose how much to pay and you can change your contribution rate whenever you want to.*

Freedom

You decide how you want to invest your AVCs i.e. your investment funds.

* The tax relief limits are based on your income, age and a maximum earnings limit. For more information on these limits please click here.

 

What's next?

Top up your pension savings by 31 October 2018 and get up to 40% tax back for the 2017 tax year. Click here to find out how it works.